Recently graduated, I'd let myself believe for too long that I was free from the everlasting horror of education, otherwise known as "school". It wasn't that I hated learning or anything, mainly just that college is terrifying as hell.
I guess almost everyone believed that the summer between graduation and college would last forever when in fact, it seems to last about a whole of 5 minutes. Then comes the scary approach of adulthood, choosing what to do with your life, and then once again being forced to study, learn, and read until your brain practically explodes just to simply live a nice, uneventful life of normality.
The dawn of a new school year had risen above me once again, and here I was, approaching a life of college-hood. Beginning, of course, with the infamous "move-in day".
I was at least lucky enough to be able to live in the shabby apartment building close to campus because of my good grades, instead of a minuscule dorm. I lugged my suitcases up the cement stairs that hurt my feet with every step, my slightly tipsy mother following behind with a moving box in her hands.
"I don't understand why they couldn't have had the elevator fixed by move-in day," my mom shouted from behind me.
I rolled my eyes and continued marching up the stairs. She basically complained about everything when she hadn't had her first drink of the day. I was surprisingly able to make her promise to hold off until I got settled.
"Level 6," I read at the landing.
"Just leave the box at the top of the stairs. I'll come back for it," I shouted to my slowly approaching mother. She nodded and turned back down the stairway.
"I'll leave the other ones here too," she replied.
I worked my way through the crowds of people in the hallway, glancing at the doors for my apartment, my shortness coming as a benefit for once. Wiping the sweat from my brow with a shaky hand, I looked down at my directory, double-checking the apartment number for the hundredth time in the last five minutes. I guess you could say I was a bit nervous.
This was it.
"6F, here we go."
Opening the gray door, I took in the room, seeing a kitchen, living room, and white doors that probably led to the bedrooms. Better than I had expected, for sure.
The carpets were stained with some weird substances and the walls were patched up in places, but it worked. I had expected my roommate to greet me like they always did in the movies, but there was no one in sight. The only way I could have possibly afforded the place was to split it with someone. Someone who was supposed to show up an hour before me . . .
My eyes suddenly widened. There was a boy, spread out, asleep, across what I had just come to believe, as my couch. His eyes flitted open and set on me.
"Never seen a human of the opposite sex before?" His deep voice echoed toward me, slightly groggy.
My face flushed. "No, uh... Are you my roommate's boyfriend or something?"
The boy on the couch wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion, sitting up. His tan skin stood out against his white t-shirt and he stood high above my small frame. The scowl on his face only made me, an extremely shy person, even more intimidated than I already was. If he was going to be here often, I was in trouble.
He replied to my statement with, "Uh, no. . . This is my apartment that I'm sharing with some guy, named Noah, I think. You're in the wrong place. . ."
"Oh my god. . ." I muttered. I started shaking my head and pacing around the apartment.
This was not how it was supposed to go. This was not what I had planned.
He coughed. "Uh, you okay? Embarrassed by your stupid mistake of walking into an extremely hot boy's apartment?"
I rolled my eyes. "No, you idiot! I'm Noah. Clearly a girl." I gestured at my body by waving my hands up and down.
"Not a guy at all." he said, scanning me with narrowed eyes, as if I were a rare sight or something. "Well, this is a bit weird. . ."
No kidding . . .
"There must have been some sort of mix up. Let's just call the owner of the building. One of us can get a different apartment," I suggested, quietly.
He shook his head, messing up his already shaggy black hair, and walked over to the phone in the kitchen.
He turned to me and pointed, as if challenging me. "To be clear, I'm not moving. I'm already unpacked," he said with the phone pressed to his ear. I muttered a few curse words under my breath, to which the he raised his eyebrows at.
While he was talking, I went back and retrieved the boxes and brought them to the apartment, mainly to avoid the nameless boy, who I, currently did not have a particular liking for. I pushed through, past several frustrated people trying to find their apartments, and back to 6F.
When I walked back in, I heard the boy shouting. "This is completely insane. You can't do this!"
I set down the boxes by the door and sat down at the kitchen island. I raised my eyebrows, in concern. "Uh, is everything okay? Please tell me you're just frustrated I can't stay," I said jokingly, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.
He glared at me, then slammed down the phone. "No, that's not why I'm mad at all actually! I'm mad because the apartment complex is apparently "too full" to move you anywhere else for the next two semesters. Looks like you'll be staying here. Hooray!"
"What?!"
I immediately started twisting my red curls around my finger, something I always did when I was stressed.
"You heard me," he said and marched into his bedroom and slammed the door.
The owner of the building must have been a complete idiot. I couldn't of switched out with any other person in building?
I thought back to what my dad had said a few years ago about most businesses,"They're lazy, Noah. Get used to it."
I collapsed on the leather couch in anger. My body shook with anxiety. There was no way I could stay in a tiny apartment with this boy for two semesters. It didn't help that he wasn't exactly amused by the situation either.
Me, being the perfectionist I was, had had the perfect plan set out for the year and it seemed like everything was already falling apart. And I was only ten minutes in.
Perfect.
A/N:
the amazing cover is made by the wonderful shirley (@textures)
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Apartment 6F
Teen Fictionthere was a boy. there was a girl. they weren't supposed to share an apartment. but they do, and there's nothing they can do about it. Of course Noah and Casey are both in for quite the surprise when they're thrown into the same apartment with no es...
